Mitt Romney low-key on civil rights, in contrast to his father

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Calmye

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Some Highlights for you lazy n*ggas not trying to read the whole article :wow:

Romney pressed ahead with an aggressive civil rights agenda that ultimately put him at odds with the leaders of his party. He refused to back Barry Goldwater as the 1964 Republican presidential nominee because, he told Goldwater in a letter, he was alarmed by indications that Goldwater's strategists "proposed to make an all-out push for the Southern white segregationist vote" and "exploit the so-called 'white backlash' in the North."
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George Romney began pushing reforms to end discrimination toward minorities in housing soon after taking office in 1963 — work that would lead to his highly controversial effort to integrate the nation's white suburbs as President Nixon's secretary of Housing and Urban Development. He launched his own 1968 presidential run after a 19-day tour of the ghettos of 17 cities, turning a spotlight on the decay and overcrowding that had contributed to riots in Detroit and elsewhere.
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George Romney's work on civil rights began in earnest while he was still an auto executive heading American Motors Corp., according to letters, memos and interviews within the collection of his papers at the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan. As a delegate at the state's constitutional convention in 1962, he banded with others to press for including in the state constitution a controversial Civil Rights Commission, which would be charged with enforcing the state's civil rights laws.
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Calmye

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When George Romney first ran for office, the vast majority of blacks in Michigan were concentrated in segregated housing in the cities, ringed by white suburbs. Romney argued that the discrimination behind those housing patterns was "the most serious issue of injustice" and said he would "bend every effort" toward making Michigan "the first state to put an effective end to discrimination of any kind."
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news of his efforts sparked a fierce backlash. When he appeared in Warren, Mich. — one of the predominantly white suburban target areas — Romney was forced to leave under police escort. Hundreds of furious white protesters surrounded him, some banging on his car, according to news reports.

Nixon quickly shelved the program, fearful that Romney was endangering his reelection prospects among some suburban white voters.

Romney left his Cabinet post disillusioned and frustrated, acknowledging that the federal government could not take on the role of "omnipotent hero righting all wrongs." Before stepping down as secretary, Romney suggested ending the direct federal role in housing programs, and instead sending federal block grants to the states.
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